Medical Electronics Symposium 2016

SMTA, INEMI, and MEPTEC have joined forces to again host this
international conference, focusing on advances in electronic
technologies and advanced manufacturing, specifically targeting medical
and bioscience applications. Last year's conference attracted about 200
attendees and more than 30 exhibitors. Prior to last year, MEPTEC's and
SMTA's conferences were held in Phoenix, Arizona and Milpitas, CA,
respectively, drawing technology experts, entrepreneurs and service
providers that work in this niche technology space. Typical applications
within this space involve implantable defibrillators, neurostimulators
and drug delivery, interventional catheters, pillcams, ultrasound
transducers, hearing aids, biosensors, microfluidics, wireless
communications, as well as future diagnostic and treatment solutions
that may use stretchable electronics, microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS).

Two tracks make up the technical program for this symposium. Track 1
addresses Designs, Components and Assembly for High Density Medical
Electronics Solutions with presentations from Indium Corp., KYZEN Corp.,
and Binghamton University among others. Track 2 will cover Next
Generation Microelectronics for Changing Healthcare Markets with
presentations from Cactus Semiconductor, Rudolph Technologies, Portland
State University, and Intel. An iNEMI Panel Discussion will close out
the two-day event. View the full technical program here!

Keynote Speakers

The President's Precision Medicine Initiative: The Opportunities and
Challenges of Analytics on Integrated Data from One Million Patients

Bob Rogers, Intel Corporation

Bob Rogers, PhD, is Chief Data Scientist for Big Data Solutions at
Intel, where he applies his experience solving problems with big data
and analytics to help Intel build world class customer solutions. Prior
to joining Intel, Bob was co-founder and Chief Scientist at Apixio, a
big data analytics company for healthcare. Bob’s mission is to put
powerful analytics in the hands of all decision makers. To achieve that,
he believes that the secrets of unstructured data must be unlocked
through the application of broadly accessible open source analytical
tools.

Electronic Materials and Devices for Neural Applications

Mohammad Reza Abidian, Ph.D., University of Houston

Mohammad Reza Abidian, Ph.D., is a professor of biomedical engineering
at the University of Houston. Neural Engineering is a new discipline
which unites engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, and
mathematics with cellular, molecular, cognitive and behavioral
neurosciences, to understand the organizational principles and
underlying mechanisms of the biology of neural systems, and to study the
behavior dynamics and complexities of neural systems in nature. To
highlight this emerging discipline, Dr. Abidian will devote his talk to
the recent advances in neural engineering research and education.

The entire electronics industry is now facing a much more insidious
counterfeit threat than at any time in the past. The existence of cloned
electronic components bearing the markings of major component
manufacturers in today's global supply chains has been clearly
established within SMT's labs over the past 4 years. The most
worrisome aspect of these “made from scratch” fakes is their ability to
easily pass current inspection processes AND electrical testing to the
manufacturers data sheet. The presentation will focus on several actual
examples of this most concerning advanced counterfeiter capability and
some of the cutting-edge processes utilized by SMT as an obsolescence
component supplier and testing lab to mitigate this new and growing
threat from making it to our OEM, EMS & CM customers. The 2nd half
of the presentation will focus on the current state and future
OEM/End-User implications of China's "Home-grown Chips" initiative
targeting the semiconductor manufacturing industry over the next 5-7
years. Both of these presentation focal points will be discussed in the
context of their predictable future effects on the entire
"High-Reliability" Medical Electronics Industry.